US Senator targets YouTube, but law not on his side

Sen. Joe Lieberman wants YouTube and its rivals to delete any videos produced by al-Qaida, other Islamic terrorist groups, and any suspected sympathizers. But because there’s no U.S. law requiring deletion–at least not yet–there’s not much the onetime veep candidate can do except complain.

On Monday, the chairman of the U.S. Senate’s Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee suggested in a letter to Google CEO Eric Schmidt that the company wasn’t doing enough to remove videos that are violent or could be used by terrorist groups to enlist followers. ‘By taking action to curtail the use of YouTube to disseminate the goals and methods of those who wish to kill innocent civilians, Google will make a singularly important contribution to this important national effort,’ Lieberman wrote.